Here is a new portrait I did this summer of children getting back to basics and enjoying being out in nature. Today technology runs the world and its great to see people getting back to basics and enjoy just being outside.

After some time away from color inkjet printing I made the jump back recently and am very pleased. The impetus of the new purchase was to print my own portfolio for reviews and new clients, which would replace my current iPad presentation. The iPad is nice and displays beautiful images but nothing to me beats a physical print that can be held. To me photography is not meant to live in a series of 1's and 0's in space, which is why i still have a darkroom and print my film work and now with my new canon pro-1000 and canson baryta photographique paper digital work will once again find a physical place in this world.

The first print I made is one I took from my cottage on Lake Winnebago called Lake Study 1. It was shot on a calm early morning looking west as I watched the day begin. I have been taking this same photo from almost this same spot for many, many years and this one was a great place to start for my new printer, and it does a amazing job. Now I can keep adding select color images along side my silver gelatin b/w prints to my print store and available those interested. I am pretty excited and have a lot of fun ahead of me.

This week while avoiding the annual business tax preparation for the accountant I proved something I already knew, analog photography is not necessarily the "slow" process most people think it is. I have been for the last year or so been working on my project Last Days of Summer,

---4x5 silver gelatin contact prints inspired by watching natures continuous cycle of death and rejuvenation from my thousands of miles spent on my bike each season. This series, documents natures transition from lush green, to pale earth tones which fulfills the seasonal cycle ensuring life will move on.---

and collected this dead sunflower this fall with intention of shooting it. As the fall turned into winter and time slipped away until Monday of this week, when I grabbed the sunflower and started the shoot. I continued with the same set up as every other plant in the series, first set up, shoot and then process the film. After pulling the 4x5 film from the final wash before drying I checked it out against a light to make sure everything was good and there were not issues from development.

After the film is dry and put in archival sleeves I then take a cell phone picture of the negative on the light box. I can then make a quick inversion on lightroom mobile app so I can have a quick down and dirty contact print of the image of how it will look printed.

So now the following day after doing some office work, I headed down to the darkroom to make my final prints. This series are all contact prints, this is where you lay the physical piece of film directly onto the fiber based paper for the final print. Here I am using Ilfords warm tone multi-grade glossy fiber base paper in 8x10" size. I preform a series of test to determine the proper time of exposure as well as contrast that will create the final image along with any dodging or burning needed. In this case the actual flower head itself needed about 20% less exposure then the rest of the print.

Once that was settled I always make a series of two or three identical prints so I always have copies of each.

After I am satisfied with my prints they are then put into a archival washer for one hour to ensure all chemicals are flushed from the prints making the images able to last for well over 100 years in any light source with out fading. Once that is done they are hung to dry over night and ready for the final steps of flattening. To flatten is use dry mount press for 2 mins at 200 degrees fahrenheit, a dry mount press is just a gigantic heated press that applies pressure while set at a temperature of your choice. From there all I have to do is spot and sign the print and its ready. So all in all the whole process was from start to finish less then 3 days, not bad at all if I say so myself.

please visit the gallery to so all the images from the series as well as the print store where the original silver gelatin prints are for sale.

I recently got back into the darkroom to make a print of the negative I had taken of a Purple Moon Calla Lily. I took the photograph about 3 months ago but now was able to finally get a print made of it and it was worth the wait. The flower, which was growing in my yard and was the first and last of the plants that I would see on my ride was this beautiful deep purple that I know would look amazing on the black backdrop I have been using for the series. After processing the negative I could not wait to print it but due to work and shooting another project I was only now able to get a print made. To continue the series the like the rest is a contact print on Ilford warm tone multigrade fiber base paper. Now that the series is "mostly" complete I will start making 16x20" silver gelatin prints that also will be available for sale in the store section of my site.

I was recently contacted by Danielle Ricci www.danielliericci.net to see if I was interested to participate in multi discipline collaborative show. The show would be with her and the Borealis Dance www.borealisdance.org a professional modern dance company, local Hmong artist and myself. The show is hoping to further the dialog about the refugee crisis in the world which this collaboration will specifically deal with the Hmong community and how they came to call Minnesota home. Danielle reached out after she came across my work I did in late 2004 documenting the final weeks of the largest remaining Hmong refugee camp in Thailand, Wat Tham Krabok refugee center that was located about 81 miles north of Bangkok.

Upon reading her request I immediately responded back noting my interest and excitement to help any way I could, I choose 7 of my images and printed them 16x20 for the show to be displayed and then be donated to the Hmong Cultrual Center.

The show will take place at the North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, in Minneapolis Minn. March 12-17.

5x7 split tone contact print from new series Witch of November posted on my site.***SS Carl Bradley sank 5:35pm November 18th 1958 360 feet of water 12miles south west of gull island. 33 of the 35 men on board were lost when a winter storm took down the ship. 2017, 35 degrees, winds 20-29mph, waves around 13feet out of north west.

5x7 split tone contact print from new series Witch of November posted on my site. *** Schooner Rouse Simmons hauling christmas trees sank November 23nd, 1912 6 miles northeast of Rawley Point WI amid gale force winds and heavy seas. Around mid afternoon at roughly 3:10pm the ships flag was at half mast and was its last sitting before sinking taking all souls on board. Photo taken, November 23rd 2017 with SW winds 10-15 knots waves 2 feet or less temperature 39 and sunny.

new personal project coming soon to my site. Witch of November (2017-present), is a photographic project where I document some of the more notable nautical disasters that have felt the brutal force of mother nature on Lake Michigan during the month of November.

Here is the first in the series from the SS Appomattox that ran aground in blinding fog 3am of November 2, 1905 atwater beach milwaukee. Photo taken on November, 2nd 2017 3am 21:50 min @f5.6 iso 400. 45 degrees 6mph ssw wind complete overcast. This is a digital file of the 5x7 split tone contact print on 8x10 fiber based silver gelatin paper.

In a attempt to be more proactive in my marketing for 2018, I along with the help of friend and client Peter Dennen from PedroandJackie.com have produced a new 5x8” post card for editorial clients. This run of cards is the first of many new digital and print promo work that I will be sending out to existing and potential new clients. This portrait is from a shoot I did this winter for a client I love working for and have been lucky enough to shoot a number of fun assignments last year Politico. This is a portrait of Madison Chief of Police, Mike Koval. Mike along with his whole staff were a pleasure to work with and made my job a breeze.